Category Archives: Music

“The Classics Experience” with Paul Walker this weekend!

Paul Walker at KIYU Alaska.

Paul Walker at KIYU Alaska.

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor and broadcaster, Paul Walker, who writes:

The next broadcast of “The Classics Experience” with Paul Walker is rapidly approaching. It’s a 2 hour broadcast of rock and roll music with some country classics scattered in and occasionally a few audio surprises.

The next broadcast schedule looks like this:

WINB 9265khz Saturday June 4th 0230UTC to 0430UTC
WRMI 7570 Saturday June 4th 0400 to 0600UTC

WINB’s principal radiation direction is 242 degrees true or almost due southwest. Looks to cover parts of the Midwest/Southern US pretty well: Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas and into Mexico. WINB claims “At the long range, the main beam hits Eastern Australia and New Zealand. The rear lobe hits the Mediterranean area of Eastern Europe.”

WRMI’s 7570khz signal beams at a 315 degree azimuth to Vancouver, Canada. It is very listenable, near local like on good nights here in rural Central Alaska.

No appeals for donations, no begging for sponsors, no political or religious rantings and ravings nor any silly personal opinions. I promise. Just good music for the fun of it!

Seriously, I fund the broadcast out of my own pocket about once every 2-3 months just for the heck of it!

Reception reports are only accepted by regular postal mail. $2 appreciated to cover the costs of the QSL cards I had printed up and the postage. Reports can be sent to:

Paul B. Walker, Jr.
PO Box 353
Galena, Alaska 99741 USA

FYI: There are two surprises: I will have text in the MFSK32 format in the second half of the first hour and then a picture in the MFSK32 format in the second half of the second hour.

Thanks, Paul, for putting you good music show on the air! We’ll be listening for “The Classics Experience” this weekend. Note: since the broadcast times are in UTC above, listeners in North America should tune in during the evening on Friday, June 3rd. Compare your local time to UTC.

May Update: From the Isle of Music

Havana, Cuba (Photo: Wikimedia)

Havana, Cuba (Photo: Wikimedia)

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Bill Tilford, who shares this From The Isle of Music update:

Our May 10 (May 9 in the Americas) program will feature two special guests with interviews and music:

1. Cuban Laud (a relative of the lute) master Barbarito Torres, whose prolific career includes the Buena Vista Social Club, but we will be playing some of his wonderful work with songstress Miriam Ramos.

2. Albertico Lescay, leader of the Cuban Jazz/Fusion group Formas. NuJazz is a new branch of Jazz in Cuba that we’ll let him explain to you.
We’ll also feature some more of Danzas Para Piano de Ignacio Cervantes.(the musical gift that keeps on giving)

Our May 17 (May 16 in the Americas) program will feature a brief interview with Angel Toirac, pianist of Influencia, and a lot of music by this distinctive Jazz ensemble, We wiill also have some vintage 1970s Cuban Funk from Grupo Monumental, some recent Cuban R & B by Eme, and we’ll finish the wonderful concert piano album Danzas Para Piano de Ignacio Cervantes.

Our May 24 (May 23 in the Americas) features a brief interview with phenomenal Jazz saxophonist Michel Herrera and his music. Also some popular dance music from the 70s by Grupo Monumental, the Timba of Manolito Simonet y su Trabuco, and we are going to begin listening to Popularmente Sinfónica Vol II by Orquesta Sinfónica de Matanzas.

Two listening options on shortwave:

  • WBCQ, 7490 KHz, Tuesdays 0000 UTC (8pm EDT Mondays)
  • Channel 292, 6070 KHz, Tuesdays 1900 UTC (2100 CEST)

See our Facebook page, From The Isle of Music, for more information.

Thanks as always for all you do for radio.

Update: From the Isle of Music

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Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Bill Tilford, who shares this From The Isle of Music update:

Our April 26 (April 25 in the Americas) program will feature special guest Cuban Jazz/Blues/Fusion guitarist Hector Quintana, a nominee in the Jazz category in Cubadisco 2015.

Also, some nice Charanga from Orquesta America, also a Cubadisco 2015 nominee (Traditional Son), some of David Alvarez & Juego de Manos (yet another nominee, in Popular Dance Music) and more of the beautiful concert piano album Danzas Para Piano de Ignacio Cervantes.

Two listening options on shortwave:
WBCQ, 7490 KHz, Tuesdays 0000 UTC (8pm EDT Mondays)
Channel 292, 6070 KHz, Tuesdays 1900 UTC (2100 CEST)

On Facebook: From the Isle of Music

SDR Touch now supports the SDRplay RSP in Beta release

sdrtouch

(Source: SDRplay Blog)

Good news for Android users – SDR Touch have released a beta version of their software with SDRplay RSp functionality – go to https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.sdrtouch.sdrplay to sign up as a beta tester.

SDR Touch works on most recent Android Phone or Tablet devices.

Update: From the Isle of Music

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Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Bill Tilford, who shares this From The Isle of Music update:

Since the addition of Channel 292 we are now getting excellent reception reports from as far east as Moscow.

Our April 11 (in the Americas) / April 12 (for the rest of the world) program will have more dance music than usual, with special guests Jesus Chappottin and Miguelito Cuni Jr. of Conjunto Chappotin, some classic dance tracks from Conjunto Los Bocucos and some Timba from El Niño y la Verdad. On the Jazz front, a new release by Brenda Navarrete, and more beautiful Cuban concert music from the album Danzas Para Piano de Ignacio Cervantes.

Two listening options on shortwave:

  • WBCQ, 7490 KHz, Tuesdays 0000 UTC (8pm EDT Mondays)
  • Channel 292, 6070 KHz, Tuesdays 1900 UTC (2100 CEST)

See the NOTES section of our Facebook page for program updates and other information.

Update: From the Isle of Music

IsleOfMusic

Many thanks to SWLing Post reader, Bill Tilford, who shares this From The Isle of Music update:

From the Isle of Music can now be heard Tuesdays from 1900-2000 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 KHz, a station in Germany, in addition to Tuesdays 0000 UTC (8-9pm EDT Mondays in the Americas) on WBCQ 7490, a station in the US

We are now able to send e-Qsls for reception reports for both options, we can be sent to [email protected]. Please be patient with us about response time as our resources are very limited.

Our April 4 (in the Americas) / April 5 (for the rest of the world) program will include Cuban Jazz trombonist Eduardo Sandoval, one of the most exciting trombonists in Cuba since Juan Pablo Torres. We will also begin a beautiful new concert music album, Danzas Para Piano de Ignacio Cervantes, and we’ll have some Cuban rock from Tesis de Menta along with some of Pello el Afrokan’s Mozambiques.

Two listening options on shortwave:

  • WBCQ, 7490 KHz, Tuesdays 0000 UTC (8pm EDT Mondays)
  • Channel 292, 6070 KHz, Tuesdays 1900 UTC (2100 CEST)

See our Facebook page for more information.

Radio 4 Doc: Learning to Listen

Atwater-Kent-DialLooking back through my notes this morning, I re-discovered this excellent documentary on the early days of radio listening; how radio changed the way we interacted with music and how we interacted with our radios.

(Source: BBC Radio 4)

As broadcasting took the world by storm in the 1920s, the radio quickly became the hub of many households. Entire families would huddle around their receiver, each person individually connected with their own headset.

But for this first generation of radio listeners, the flexible styles of listening that we habitually employ today were by no means innate – many sat silent and fully attentive, listening just as they would in a concert hall.

Historian Dominic Sandbrook charts how a new, more informal style of listening gradually evolved through the 1920s and 30s, by delving into the diaries of the Austrian musician Heinrich Schenker.

Schenker began to record what he heard on the radio within days of the inaugural broadcast from Austria’s first official station, Radio Wien. This rare and fascinating record, which spans just over a decade, offers tangible evidence of how new approaches to listening emerged over these formative years. We’ll follow Schenker’s journey as the radio shifts from being something that demanded his rapt attention, to eventually becoming an integrated part of his domestic life.

Click here to listen to the full documentary on Radio 4.